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>Took the names for Project Wide Awake and other internet surveillance programs from the X-Men comic book series, in which illegal government programs hunt huma

>Took the names for Project Wide Awake and other internet surveillance programs from the X-Men comic book series, in which illegal government programs hunt human “mutants.” This sort of "geeky but psychopathic" type of humor seems to be not uncommon in surveillance agencies. I suppose it makes sense that amoral intelligent people would be drawn towards intelligence agencies, as I suppose sadists were probably drawn towards organizations like the Gestapo, KGB, and Stasi. There's something I find galling about it - not only is one's privacy violated, but what's more is that the violators go about their business with corporate bureaucratic banality and "joking around the office" sort of humor.

cutitout 6y ago
> It doesn't matter whether you hate the spies and believe they are corroding democracy, or if you think they are the noble guardians of the state. In both cases the assumption is that the secret agents know more than we do. > But the strange fact is that often when you look into the history of spies what you discover is something very different. > It is not the story of men and women who have a better and deeper understanding of the world than we do. In fact in many cases it is the story of weirdos who have created a completely mad version of the world that they then impose on the rest of us. -- Adam Curtis
d3nj4l 6y ago
> This sort of "geeky but psychopathic" type of humor seems to be not uncommon in surveillance agencies. Relevant article: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/07/the-fake-nerd-boys-of-silicon-valley https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/07/the-fake-nerd-boys-of...